The State Prosecutor's Office on Thursday filed an indictment with the Tel Aviv District Court against a resident of the city for attempting to conspire to commit an act of terror and aggravated murder.
According to the indictment, submitted by Attorney Sarit Shemesh of the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's Office, the defendant, a political protester active in demonstrations against the government, sought to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after she was diagnosed with a serious illness.
“The defendant, who is involved in political protest activities against the Israeli government, was recently diagnosed with a serious illness and believes her days are numbered. As a result, she resolved to murder the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, thereby 'sacrificing' her life for the struggle against the government, and thereby 'saving' the State of Israel,” the indictment read.
The indictment states that “in order to carry out the plan, the defendant decided to conspire with other protest activists. As part of this conspiracy, in late June, she met with one of the activists at her home and shared her plan. He refused, telling her that he would not take part, and asked her to wait a few days, with the goal of preventing her from continuing.”
“A few days later, she summoned him again. During the meeting, during which he attempted to talk her out of it, she asked him to aid her in purchasing an RPG to use in the murder of the Prime Minister, as well as in gathering information on his schedule, movements, location, and security arrangements. During their meetings, she insisted that mobile phones be kept outside the room. Once the man realized he couldn’t dissuade her from carrying out her plans, he contacted a lawyer who in turn alerted the security authorities.”
Alongside the indictment, the prosecution filed a request to extend the defendant’s full house arrest until the end of the legal proceedings against her.
In the motion, the prosecution cited her expressed willingness to die as a “female shahid” and sacrifice herself for the cause. “Tragically, the illness that led her to devise this plan to kill the Prime Minister and thus end her life, similar to, 'let me die with the Philistines,' still exists, and therefore the risk of her again attempting to carry out the plan against the Prime Minister or other government officials remains real and indicates a high level of danger,” the motion concluded.
According to reports Wednesday, the 70-year-old leftist from central Israel was arrested about two weeks ago by the Shin Bet after allegedly conspiring with others to harm Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using an explosive device.
Since then, she has been released under restrictive conditions, including a ban on approaching government institutions and the Prime Minister.